NOVEL READING



NOVEL reading is a sin of such magnitude, a practice so pernicious, and so detrimental to the mind, that I would say to those who are addicted to it, as the angel said to Lot, "Escape for thy life." Break the bands that bind you to so fatal a delusion. Satan uses various instruments to win souls from Jesus, and one is, novel reading. It weakens the mind, destroys the memory, and ruins spirituality. It is an evil, which, if persisted in, will wean the mind from everything of a holy and religious character. It produces a false, un- healthy, unnatural excitement upon the mind, and kindles an unholy flame within the breast of all who indulge in it.

The influence which light literature has upon the mind is sad in the extreme. It unfits the reader to enjoy the realities of life. It substitutes fiction for facts the spurious for the genuine. It may seem harmless and inoffensive a thing to be easily dropped if evil results follow. But Satan weaves his web about the reader in such a way as to make it almost impossible to extricate himself from its fascinating power.

Beware of the first misstep. One wrong habit will cause a desire for rocks and mountains to hide from us the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne.




M. WOOD.